Leafs defeat Senators to extend winning streak to three games

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night 2-1. The battle of Ontario which took place on Hockey Night in Canada wasn’t as intense and physical as most fans would have hoped for but, nonetheless, the Leafs walked away with a much needed two points and climb back into a playoff spot. After a disastrous couple of games prior to the All-Star break, the Leafs are back on track, owning a perfect 3-0-0 record since the break.

Will Nye The Comeback Guy

William Nylander saw his 5-game goal streak come to an end on Saturday night, but he did manage to pick up a primary assist on Mitch Marner’s game-winning goal in overtime. The assist extends Nylander’s point streak to 7 games. After scoring just 7 goals and 27 points in 54 games last season, the 23-year-old winger has scored 24 goals and 47 points in 52 games this season. The Swede is on pace for a career-high 38 goals and a career-high 74 points this season.

Hutch Turns Season Around

Goaltender Michael Hutchinson had an absolutely atrocious start to the season as he went winless during his first 6 starts and allowed a minimum of 4 goals in each of the first 6 starts. Since then, Hutchinson has gone a perfect 4-0-0 with a 1.47 goals against average and a .948 save percentage in his last 4 starts. He was able to stop 24 of the 25 shots he faced against Ottawa on Saturday night. At the beginning of the season, Leafs management has doubts if Hutchinson was an NHL caliber goalie but recently, the 29-year-old has become a consistent and reliable backup option for the team.

Spezza Burns Old Team

The Leafs really struggled offensively on Saturday night as the Senators did a great job taking away passing lanes and smothering them. The Leafs did manage to get a powerplay halfway through the second but the Leafs’ first powerplay unit looked awful and wasn’t able to get any momentum going. On came the 2nd powerplay unit in the latter half of the powerplay and the former Ottawa Senators’ captain Jason Spezza ripped a slap shot past goaltender Craig Anderson to tie the game. That was Spezza’s 8th goal of the season which ties his goal total from both last season and the season prior. The 36-year-old Center is on pace for 14 goals and 35 points this season which would be his highest offensive output since the 2016-2017 campaign.

The Leafs will be taking on the Florida Panthers on Monday night at 7 p.m. eastern time. The buds will look to make it four straight wins and hope to hand the Panthers their 2nd consecutive loss. This is a critical game for the Leafs as the Panthers are just 2 points back of them for that 3rd and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.